East Africa’s insurance and financial services group, Jubilee Holdings has announced an additional Ksh5.5bn investment in Uganda’s 250-megawatt Bujagali Hydropower Project.

The investment is an additional 8.8% in the equity of the project, according to Nizar Juma, Jubilee Holdings Chairman.

“We have a joint 30-year concession deal to operate the plant that provides 40% of Uganda’s power”, he said.

The Bujagali Hydropower Project is a 250-megawatt power-generating facility being built on the Victoria Nile River near the Town of Jinja, in Uganda, by Bujagali Energy.

It is sponsored by Industrial Promotion Services (Kenya) and SG Bujagali Holdings, an affiliate of Sithe Global Power (USA).

Jubilee Holdings, which owns Jubilee Insurance, is a joint shareholder in the 250-megawatt Bujagali Energy through its subsidiary, Jubilee Investment Company.

Juma said Jubilee Holdings will acquire shares from Sithe Global Power, which is selling its interest in the venture: “We are taking more equity from Sithe Global”.

Over the past five years, Jubilee Holdings has implemented a strategy to diversify investments to reduce the risk of volatility from stock market movements.

This strategy includes increasing government bonds and diversifying into investments in the energy sector, such as Tsavo power and Bujagali and in other infrastructure projects that are giving returns in dollar terms.

Jubilee Holdings also has major investments in SEACOM, the first Fibre Optic submarine cable system covering over 15,000kms from South Africa to France.

“Projects like Bujagali and SEACOM provides us with guaranteed income in USD terms which gives Jubilee Insurance the future stability it has planned for,” said Juma.

Apart from diversification plans, Jubilee Holdings is also looking at regional expansion to other markets and has already started operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is looking into expanding into Ethiopia, subject to regulatory approvals.

As at June 30, the Jubilee Holdings’ asset base was Ksh87.6bn, the highest in the insurance sector that is a 6.3% growth compared to the end of 2015. 

The insurer also increased its pre-tax profits by 10.2% to Ksh 1.972bn over last year.

Jubilee Holdings is cross listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) and Uganda Securities Exchange.